Don't Blink
by Stellar13
Summary: <html><head></head>Something dark and twisted has begun. The Next Generation learns a lesson their parents had already learned too well. You never know how fast everything can fall apart.</html>
1. Prologue

Disclaimer-I do not own any recognizable characters. They belong to JK Rowling.

Prologue

The deliberate pace of the two young men would have been a sure clue for any observer of the motive of their mission. Not that anyone was around to notice. It was around two o'clock in the morning, but the night seemed so much longer than that for the young Aurors.

The messy-haired brunet broke the silence, turning towards his platinum haired companion. "You don't have to stay. I can tell her." They stood side by side less than ten feet from their dreaded destination. The blond didn't answer, only shaking his head to indicate his desire to stay. His friend frowned, "Scorpius, please. She's my cousin. Anyways, I'm sure Rose will be worried about you. It's late." He meet Scorpius' eyes, a pleading look begging him to take his offer. In some aspects, Albus was right. His lack of familial as well as his lack of substantial connection to the case, if it was that yet, did not indebt him to stay to weather the explosion behind the cherry red door of the small, but meticulously kept-up home. "You'll be back soon enough, after the rest of the family finds out, Rose will be pulled into this mess, taking you with her." Albus continued. "My father will probably be here momentarily regardless, I mean, Teddy was his godson. Eventually every member of the Weasley-Potter clan will be roused and called over and I'd assume Rose would much rather hear it from you rather than someone else."

"She and Teddy were close."

"I know."

"She's going to be hysterical."

"I know."

"What the hell happened tonight, Al?" Scorpius ran a hand over his face, his grey eyes weary and upset. He didn't expect an answer. Al didn't know anymore than he did. Which was nothing. Nothing, except for the fact the Teddy Lupin's dead body, mutilated almost beyond recognition, had been found just after closing time by a Diagon Alley shopkeeper.

A popping noise was heard, indicating the arrival of Harry Potter, who appeared seconds later behind his son, his eye's undoubtedly misty behind his glasses. "Just go home, Scorp." Albus said. "She'll need you more than we do."

Signing in resignation, Scorpius nodded to Albus and pulled out his wand. With a crack, he disappeared from the father and son standing on the solemn street.

Without exchanging a word, the two Potter's trudged the remaining ten feet to the front door of Victoire Lupin's, née Weasley, residence.


	2. Paint It Black

Disclaimer-I do not own any recognizable characters. They belong to JK Rowling.

Scorpius Malfoy married Rose Weasley at the age of 22. It was younger than their parents preferred but both of their families had accepted the fate that Rose and Scorpius would be together not too long after the day Hugo had blurted out during a family dinner at the Burrow, as an attempt to save himself from the foreboding punishment for a prank gone awry, that he had caught Rose and Scorpius snogging on the backside of Honeydukes on the first Hogsmeade of their fifth year. The couple lived in an above average apartment, magically disguised in Muggle London. Much to the horror of Molly Weasley, Rose had moved in with Scorpius at the age of 19 as she continued her training as a Healer, striving to earn a position at St. Mungo's. Despite her straight red hair, which was rarely out of place, and her undeniably Weasley sense of humor, the intelligence she possessed obviously came from her mother. Although Scorpius always had high marks at Hogwarts, he lacked the patience and passion for study that Rose inherited from her mother. Anyways, with Albus as his best friend, Scorpius always knew he would end up becoming an Auror. Both of the careers called for long hours and often enough a nightmare worthy sight but this had by far been the worst. Unsurprisingly, the only light on in their apartment when Scorpius arrived was the Muggle lamp sitting on their kitchen counter. Next to it, Rose had left a note, which she often did when she knew she'd be asleep before he got home. This particular one made the devastating news he was about to tell her even more painful.

_Scor-_

_ I'll be lights out before you get home. _

_ Double shift, you know what that's like,_

_ Don't forget, we BOTH have tomorrow off. _

_ Can't wait. I haven't had you all to myself in ages._

_ I love you. _

_ Rose _

Scorpius sighed and threw his Auror robes on the back of a kitchen chair. In the mess of an evening he had, Rose's excitement for their day-off together had slipped her mind. Their future now involved probably an emergency Weasley gathering at the Burrow and thousands of unanswered questions, as opposed to a lazy day in bed and hopefully a nice meal at a fancy restaurant. He had made the reservations last week; it was Rose's favorite. Turning towards the liquor cabinet, he pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey and two shot glasses. They were going to need something strong after this conversation.

Rose had been asleep for maybe two hours when she felt Scorpius squeeze her shoulder.

"Rose," he whispered. His voice sounded weird. Hoarse. "Honey, wake up."

"What's wrong?" She mumbled, in a sleepy voice, rubbing her eyes as she rolled onto her back to face him. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she tried to discern the expression on his face. Something had happened, something bad. It had been along time since she had seen Scorpius look genuinely terrified. The fog of sleep was gone in an instant when she recognized that whatever was going on was serious. "Hey," her voice returning to its normal octave, "what happened? Is everyone okay?" She joined him in his upright position against the headboard of their bed.

He gave her a sad smile, shaking his head, and reached for her hand. Giving it a squeeze, he sighed. "Teddy Lupin is dead. He was found murdered at around midnight in Diagon Alley."

She didn't believe him, she answered quickly with an incredulous, "No." A 'No' full of shock and disbelief, not because she was upset; the sadness hadn't overcome her inability to see Teddy as anything but the invincible big brother figure in her life. Teddy Lupin had cured Lycanthropy at the age of twenty-nine. At the age of thirty-one, his sole focus was using his unmatchable potions' ability to help as many unfortunates as he could. Why would anyone want to kill Teddy? Rose spent her fair share of hours with Teddy over the years; during vacation time, Teddy used to let his knowledge-seeking pseudo-cousin observe his experiments, teaching her as he went along. Not many potion masters possessed that amount of patience for a fourteen-year-old girl. But Teddy did it absolutely willingly, without any kind of pressure from her parents or aunts and uncles, much to Rose's surprise. A sob began to escape her throat. "What…" she croaked, "How did it happen?"

Scorpius wrapped his arms around Rose as her sobs increased. Her whole body shook against him as she buried her face into his chest. "We don't know what happened. We found him, he was…" He paused not really wanting to continue. Although Rose had seen some horrifying things as a Healer, he wasn't sure she could handle the mutilation of Teddy's body. A patient is one thing; your favorite cousin is another. "As of now, the cause of death appears to be blood loss, someone slit his throat. No one found any sort of magical residue on the body, which is strange considering the location we found him. He…he…someone beat him. Badly. I don't know where though. There is no way that could have happened in Diagon alley, even at midnight. Too many people." She kept sobbing into his chest. Honestly, he doubted she had heard a single thing he just told her. Scorpius held his hysterical wife in his arms for an indefinable amount of time but when the sobs that had been racking her body slowed, she pulled back and he kissed her tenderly on the forehead.

"It sounds like a Muggle murder." Rose always went straight to the point. "Why would a wizard kill him without magic? Unless it was a werewolf or some kind of animal?" In a period of thirty seconds, Rose seemed to have gone from inconsolable to a detective, completely unsurprising. And then. "Oh my god…" A horrified look appeared on her face. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth. She jumped out of her spot on the bed, flinging the sheets onto the group and banging Scorpius with her elbow in her mad rush off the bed. Drawers thumped open as Rose yanked the knobs, frantically grabbing an assortment of clothes, leaving a mess of clothes, both hers and his, across the dark room's floor.

Scorpius reached for his wand and muttered "Lumos". "Honey," he said as he watched her hastily change out of her pajamas. "I know you want to go but now's probably— "

"Victoire's three months pregnant." Rose pulled a sweater of her head and once it was over her head rummaged through the mess of papers and trinkets on the dresser to grab her wand.

Scorpius' mouth had dropped so wide open that Rose assumed he was speechless. That was until he stood up in recovery from his shock. And said all there was to say in such royally screwed situation. "Fuck."


End file.
